As anyone who performs a lot of physical work will attest, nothing beats having the proper tool for a job. The proper tool can save time, save money, produce a higher quality job, reduce damage to equipment, and provide for the increased safety of the worker. Each field of physical work has its own type of specialty tools, each performing a specialized task. The field of shoe manufacturing is no different. One aspect of shoe construction most people are not aware of is that it is sometimes necessary to hold the lace eyelet area of the shoe together. This is currently accomplished by retainers which are prone to breakage, thus requiring rework.
Several attempts have been made in the past to design an effective apparatus for holding shoe eyelets in place during the shoe manufacturing process. U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,824 in the name of Swift discloses a method of and machine for stitching a thong to an upper in a machine for the manufacture of footwear in which the vamp is sewn to the upper by leather thongs, in which a barbed needle on a ram reciprocating in a fluid operated cylinder is passed through preformed pairs of shaped holes in the material to be thonged, applying a thonging thread to the needle and applying fluid to one end of the cylinder to draw the needle and the thonging thread through the vamp and the upper, withdrawing the needle and moving the material to receive the needle through a succeeding pair of holes on the material and applying fluid to the opposite end side of the ram and re-passing the needle and thonging thread through the vamp and upper for succeeding stitches, an air line being connected to each end of the cylinder with a control valve to regulate the air flow. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed for holding the eyelet area together.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,253 in the name of Cantella discloses an automatic hollow punch search device and relevant control, for die-cutting machines, particularly for footwear production, in which a mobile head is associated to means to move it to and fro, both horizontally and vertically, above a fixed faceplate on which the material to be cut is placed, together with a hollow cutting punch. The movement means are automatically piloted by a drive circuit interlocked to manual starting means which provides means to carry out a complete head movement operating sequence from its positioning above the hollow punch to its lowering and return to the starting point after cutting. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to correspond with varying shoe sizes.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,595 in the name of Cantella discloses a method for operating an automatic hollow punch search device and relevant control, for die-cutting machines, particularly for footwear production, in which a mobile head is associated to a device to move it to and fro, both horizontally and vertically, above a fixed faceplate on which the material to be cut is placed, together with a hollow cutting punch. The movement devices are automatically piloted by a drive circuit interlocked to a manual starting device which provides means to carry out a complete head movement operating sequence from its positioning above the hollow punch to its lowering and return to the starting point after cutting. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed for holding an eyelet area together.
None of the prior art particularly describes an apparatus for holding shoe eyelets in place during the shoe manufacturing process. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which the eyelet areas of shoes can be retained together in a manner that not only allows for quick retention, but is not prone to easy breakage. The present invention is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, and designed for many years of repeated use.